The owner of café Le Constellation in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, was arrested on Friday due to a possible flight risk. This is what the AFP news agency and the Swiss newspaper write 24 Heures based on anonymous sources. Forty people died in a fierce fire in Le Constellation on New Year’s Eve, and 119 people were injured.
The couple who jointly own the café were interrogated for more than six hours on Friday by the public prosecutor’s office of Sion in the canton of Valais, AFP said. It was then decided to arrest the man, Jacques M., because of the risk of flight. M. is a Corsican and has French citizenship, and has changed his place of residence many times in the past – he has worked in Corsica, in the French region of Haute-Savoie and in Switzerland, writes 24 Heures.
Previously, the public prosecutor’s office refused to arrest 49-year-old M. On January 4 wrote the local police that the suspects would not be arrested because “the criteria for pre-trial detention have not been met.” There would also be “no suspicion” that the suspects intended to flee.
On Tuesday it became clear that no fire safety checks have been carried out at Le Constellation since 2019. According to Mayor of Crans-Montana Nicolas Féraud, catering establishments such as the bar should be inspected annually. Féraud did not say why this did not happen at Le Constellation. No safety issues were found during the last inspection in 2019.
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